Thursday, August 28, 2008
It's always more than you think!
Well I've finally accounted for 99% of our trip costs. There are still some minor things like luggage tips and other odd cash transactions that I don't have receipts for or just plain can't remember. The table below lays it out by category:
So it works out to about $1200/person, $320/day, and $1.60 per mile driven. The gas cost/mile driven was 19.8 cents/mile. Yeah it cost way more than I thought going in. We were shocked at the food prices we were seeing in the restaurants, but were firm in sticking to our pledge of "no national chains" and keeping a "when in Rome" attitude. When I mentioned in an earlier post that I expected it to cost $2000-$2500, I had mentally already factored in the car rental and the train tickets. If you take those out, the actual total for the things I was counting in my original estimate equates to about $3300 - still way over my estimate.
Lesson learned: Plan on budgeting double what you think this kind of trip might cost - then be pleasantly surprised if it costs less. We are in good enough shape financially that we could expense this trip without carrying a credit card balance, but we did tap some savings to do it. Dave Ramsey would probably argue that if you had to use cash for all these transactions, and not credit cards, you almost for sure would spend less. The ease of a credit card makes you spend more than you think you are spending.
| Expense | Amount |
| Car Rental | 811.76 |
| Train | 756.00 |
| Dinners | 639.25 |
| Gas | 595.28 |
| Lunches | 406.94 |
| Fees | 393.85 |
| Souvenirs | 298.00 |
| Breakfasts | 249.49 |
| Parking | 127.00 |
| Walmart (groceries, sundries) | 103.33 |
| Refreshments (drinks, snacks) | 89.79 |
| Hotel (One night wasn't covered) | 89.15 |
| Mass Transit | 80.00 |
| Added Fees (inside attractions) | 62.50 |
| Cabs | 45.00 |
| Wireless (hotspots, hotels) | 33.85 |
| Highway Tolls | 20.00 |
| Total | 4801.19 |
So it works out to about $1200/person, $320/day, and $1.60 per mile driven. The gas cost/mile driven was 19.8 cents/mile. Yeah it cost way more than I thought going in. We were shocked at the food prices we were seeing in the restaurants, but were firm in sticking to our pledge of "no national chains" and keeping a "when in Rome" attitude. When I mentioned in an earlier post that I expected it to cost $2000-$2500, I had mentally already factored in the car rental and the train tickets. If you take those out, the actual total for the things I was counting in my original estimate equates to about $3300 - still way over my estimate.
Lesson learned: Plan on budgeting double what you think this kind of trip might cost - then be pleasantly surprised if it costs less. We are in good enough shape financially that we could expense this trip without carrying a credit card balance, but we did tap some savings to do it. Dave Ramsey would probably argue that if you had to use cash for all these transactions, and not credit cards, you almost for sure would spend less. The ease of a credit card makes you spend more than you think you are spending.
Labels: cross country drive budget, delta sky miles, how we did it, travel rewards, trip planning
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